Khador Winterguard Gas Tank Conversion

Spent some time last night and today converting my Winterguard.  The gas masks I already finished so I worked on adding in their tattered coats on the bottom using Procreate Putty.  After that it was taking guitar string and some pliers to create the tube for the gas mask.  For the backpack tank I used the bit from my Devastator's arm (I wasn't using it).  I really like the tank and will order more bits from PP to create additional gas tanks. 

This process is very time consuming so I'm focusing on converting three Winterguard at a time and will finish painting them too.  This way I'll slowly get painted figs done and will feel like I'm making progress :)

*the reason for gas tanks is because for this Guardsmen pose I wasn't able to connect the tube to anything on his waist, like the pouch on my other too, so I had to find a creative solution.  Also need to do more putty work on the part where the tube connects to the tank and mask.

 

Khador eSorscha Painting WIP

   

Painted eSorscha tonight and wanted to try an ice effect with her axe.  She has a spell called Freezing Grip so I wanted to show that.  This painting evolved so that one side of her is cold with light blues and purple and the other side is very warm with oranges and reds.  

I sorta dived into it not knowing how it would turn out but I think it's taking shape.  The ground was a lot of fun to do and my favorite part of that is adding in those highlight accents.  

A little sleepy and I have to wake up in 3 hours to go fishing ><; but next step for this mini is trying to figure out how to do the axe.  With the naked high there isn't  a lot of color variation on the axe so I'll have to think about it a bit.  

 

Khador Winterguard Conversion Painting

Worked on the Unit Leader for my Khador Winterguard Unit.  Did a lot of conversion work on them ranging from their gasmasks and tube to their cloaks which have been extended using epoxy putty.  Still going for the Wasteland look; gritty, dirty, menacing.  Fluff is that this army was on a long and perilous expedition into the Wastelands and now are trying to fight their way back home to the Motherland.

The above mini has most of the color in.  I will most likely start on the next batch of Winterguard and then go back to these original two and add the grime layer of weathering pigments.

The masking tape provides an interesting color juxtaposed with the mini.  Reminds me of snow.  Should I add snow to the base?  I was always sorta against it because usually we play on a green battle mat and I thought snow looked odd but hmmmmm~~

The one thing I wanted to mention was that when I was painting in thin layers; it revealed errors in my sculpting... the putty wasn't smoothed enough and you can tell where the putty was attached to the mini.  So when I work on the rest of the Winterguard I just have to be more careful.

But overall I'm pretty happy with the look of them.  I never thought I would try the red shoulderpads or the greenish tint to their coats but I think it works and looks very "Khador" to me.  One note is that I added a bit of Ogrun Flesh wash to warm up the coat to match the hot climate I think these guys are travelling in.

I also have plans for the Officer and Standard bearer.  I'm thinking to sculpt my own flag and make it a centerpiece for the unit along with some custom sculpting for the Officer.  I'll try to change her pose a bit.

Two down and fourteen more to go! :D (I'm including Joe in this unit and need to get one more rocketeer for the full Winterguard Deathstar)

Khador Devastator WIP

Recently bought a bunch of new models but thought I would assemble my Devastator because I may be using him in my club's tournament this Saturday.  Main thing I worked on yesterday was the magnets and his arms.

I wasn't planning on doing this at first but realized that if I used magnets, it might allow the arms to rotate so he could have an open version and a closed one.  This is pretty neat because it will simulate his Rain of Death special attack.  So in the above pic, you can see how I dremel'ed out a whole and placed a magnet in there.  Magnets I used are 3/16" x 1/16".  I get them from Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove.

Next pic.  I used the Dremel to file off the little nib on his elbow there and placed another magnet.  You wanna make sure the area is flat so there's more surface for the magnet to stick.  Used Krazy Glue.

His right arm had trouble closing to center so I had to file down part of his arm.

ARM 25 above and Rain of Death below. :P

Close up view of the magnets.  I was worried that the arm would be too heavy but the magnet is strong enough to hold the arm and the shoulder plate.  Magnet position is set up perfectly to allow the arm to swivel.

With the shoulder plates glued to the arms, Devastator is still able to open his arms but the magnet connection is not pefect.  The magnet does hold though.

You can see how the magnet on the arm is at an angle.  It sorta works but I want the connection to be better so this left me with a decision.  Leave it as is or try something nutty.  I decided to go all out.

So right now I'm creating a tiny hinge for the shoulder plate where it connects to the arm.  This will allow arm to naturally open.  When it does, the shoulder plate should open up revealing the Rain of Death launchers.  Working on that now and will update this post as I make progress.  Got the first hinge done.  The tricky part will be gluing it on and aligning it.  /cross fingers.

Later in the day...

So made some progress with Devastator.  Got some hinge pics to show ya.

I've been cutting some brass plating I got at a train hobby store.  Brookhurst Hobbies also carries it.  Then I use a really thin wire for the hinge to swivel around. 

So above pic shows how I make them.  I cut two pieces; one piece has two "fingers" on the outside, and then other has a "middle finger" :P on the inside.  I tape down the first one.  Put the wire on and tape that down too.  Then I use a flat sculpting tool and wrap it over nice and tight.

Once you wrap it over, jam the tool like the picture above so it's tight on the other side.  Then you slip the other side in and wrap the two fingers exactly the same way.

And walla!  Hinge!  I applied some Krazy Glue underneath those finger parts to make it more secure.  This is the first hinge I tried.  I was able to glue it to the arm but when I tried attaching it to the shoulder piece, the hinge is too small so I wasn't able to glue the parts to it.  Shoulder is too heavy so it moves the hinge around and thus it isn't able to bond.  So back to the drawing board!

Hinge like you got a pair!!!  O.K. so I decided to make the hinge bigger. That way I can secure it to the parts easier as there's more area for the glue to attach to.
 

I've glued one of the flat panels onto the inside of Devastator's shoulder pad.  I bent the other side so it'll wrap around his arm a little better.

View from the outside.

And here he is with arm attached.  It's leaving a little gap which meh... looks sorta weird.

Showing the hinge in action. 

I'm not sure if you can tell from the pic but it shows how the hinge attaches to Devastator's arm.  Definitely more secure than the first hinge.

Now when you open his arms, the shoulder pad naturally opens because of the hinge.  Sweet!  Since this pic I've gone back and reglued the shoulder pad to close the gap.  I like it a little better.  The should piece is a little wobbly so I'll think more about it but so far so good.  Now I'm off to Brookhurst for Thursday Night Warmachine.  Hopefully I'll get to try out my new Winterguard Rifle Corp with pButcher.  More hinges and Devastator later tonight!

Kayazy Assassins FINALLY DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well, 95% done. :D  Reached a milestone a few days ago when I finished painting my full unit of Kayazy Assassins including the Underboss.  I still have to model the furnace grill on most of their backpacks and work on finishing up the Underboss.  But for the tabletop they are ready to go!

And here are some pics of their cloaks.  After painting them I used MIG Water Effects mixed with some of their pigments.  You can either mix them to get a liquid that you brush on, or you can brush on the Water Effects first and then with dry pigment dab it all on.  I like the latter because it leaves a cake of dirt that you can see.  Cool!  You can also use the Water Effects to make grease;  I did that running out of a lot of the holes in their cloaks, and I used it on their armor in various places to add a sheen/greasy feel.

Also got started on my uber awesome Wardoggy!  He's been clutch in so many games.  It was finally time to paint him up.  He's a rottweiler.  Probably need another day to finish him up.

Also painted Scrappy that I finished up a few weeks ago.  Still gotta start on the Old Witch.

Next pics are of my 35pt Hardcore force that I'll be using @ SoCal Smackdown this weekend.  It's my "I'm going to get pounded for two rounds and hope Butcher makes it to your frontline" list.  Nothing else is painted so I'm going with this and see how it goes ^^ It's very similar to the first ever 35pt list I ran minus the Mechaniks and Kodiak in place of the Spriggan; so that is cool.

I'm a little burnt out from all the painting I've been doing getting ready for SoCal Smackdown so will probably take a little break, not too long though :)  So many things I wanna paint next.  What would you like to see painted?  I have Winterguard, Assault Kommandos, Widowmakers, Marksman, Gorman, eEiryss, Saxon, and many more.  I'm feeling like Assault Kommandos because I wanna see how that trench is going to turn out.  We'll see though.  'Till next time!